


Sempiternal

by Vyranai



Series: Dark Thedas Tales [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dark Thedas tales, F/M, a tiny touch of romance, but sadly not in this one either, dark themes, in another world
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-28 07:36:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8436973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vyranai/pseuds/Vyranai
Summary: In another world, Fen'Harel and Lavellan find each other again through dark means.





	

The clan operated under one simple rule: fear the Wolf. Ellana could not remember a time when her clan did not spend each dawn replacing the protective wards around the camp, meticulously checking the glyphs etched into the ironbark of the aravels. She was a good girl, always obedient and respectful, always back around the campfire before sunset and the rise of the moon that lit the Dread Wolf’s hunting grounds: the place where the People walked. Ellana recited her prayers each and every night before sleep and gave thanks to her absent gods the next morning when she woke up unscathed and untouched by the Wolf.

Though seemingly faithful and quiet, Ellana held within her a deep secret: she did not quite share her clan’s innate terror of the Dread Wolf. She would never dare even whisper that she wasn’t so sure that he existed. There was no proof, after all. Her Keeper claimed many dark and dangerous things, but Ellana never missed the fact that he never presented anything to back up his words. Just more words.

Ellana began questioning her clan when the lovely and young Nia, her partner in the endless hunt for food, was accused of consorting with the Wolf, sneaking out of the camp during the dead of night to fornicate with him under the light of the full moon. She had seen Nia slip out of camp, but not with the Wolf. Not unless the Wolf was Assan and they spent their days shooting looks full of longing at each other. It was simply not possible that her Keeper was correct in his suspicions. “Ell,” Nia whispered brokenly one night, grip tight upon Ellana’s shoulder. “I carry Assan’s child within me, but the Keeper will not believe me if I tell him the truth. He will believe that the child is the Dread Wolf’s, and he will kill me. Help me run away.”

And so, under cover of darkness, Ellana betrayed her clan for the first time because of the Dread Wolf.

Nia’s body was found on a craggy ridge just a few weeks later, her womb brutally torn away and tongue cut from her head. The Keeper ordered her body be buried with blood lotus, lest her cursed soul find its way into one of them. Ellana had nightmares for months after catching sight of the blood; the abject terror on Nia’s bloodstained face. No one but her showed any emotion to the girl’s horrific death.

The second time she betrayed her clan was the day she became a woman in the eyes of her people. After Nia had gone, her curiosity had only grown, dark voices whispering in her ears that her clan had lost its way. That not even the Dread Wolf would bother touching their corrupt lives. She began to quietly doubt the Gods, the Wolf included. Ellana started to change her nightly prayers into silent requests for help for her clan. _Please, they have lost their way. They are but shadows of what they should be._

When Ellana betrayed her clan again, she was caught. It was a foolish idea, she realized that as they hauled her bleeding form away from the small shrine she had erected in a circular copse of trees, a hunk of raw ram meat set before it. Trying to call down the Dread Wolf himself? What had she been thinking? He had not come, of course. Ellana had sat there for hours, waiting diligently for the telltale sound of huge paws upon cold and bitter ground. Then the night patrol had found her. With arrows.

Ellana lost all faith in her People. _Tainted_ , they hissed at her bound and crumpled form. _The Wolf’s Whore. The Wife of Nightmares_ and _Queen of Betrayal._ Her clan became strangers, dangerous and wild in their hate for her. Ellana began to beg every night for her Gods to come and save her, but they never replied to her sobs in the waking world. So she called on the Wolf instead within her dreams, past desperate.

And he answered her summons.

When Ellana was allowed to sleep longer than a few minutes, she opened her eyes and found herself deep in the emerald of the Fade. And the hulking black form of the Dread Wolf was sat there already, waiting patiently for her. She felt no fear as she stepped before him, staring into blood-red eyes. Six, she counted at a glance. Three either side, fixed upon her small and insignificant form. Ellana felt only fury at her monstrous clan, revenge coursing through her like poison; if the other Gods would not help...

Her thoughts were as dark as the fur of his coat. “I require your aid, Dread Wolf.”

The dark God inclined his head very slightly. “And what will you give me in return?”

“Myself.” Her life was nothing now, her body an empty shell animated only by her hate. But before she died at her clan’s twisted hands, Ellana would bring them nightmares. “But the Keeper is mine,” she hissed softly.

“As you wish, da’len.”

 

 

They died. One by one; a snake bite that turned blood pitch black; bad water that killed the halla and rendered the clan unable to move from their current camp. Two hunters died from experiencing a fear so terrible that their very hearts gave out. The rest died in unexplainable ways. The camp soon lay in ruins, devoid of life and colour.

Only the Keeper himself remained. When Ellana was released from her shackles, the Wolf at her side, he was on his knees before her, still praying to his lost Gods. Ellana cut him down, no mercy in her eyes. “You made me,” she told him, hands stained with the blood of her people. But… they were _not_ her people. Her people would never commit such atrocious acts. They would revere all Gods. Fen’Harel also. He came when none other did. And now she had revenge for Nia and all the other unnamed innocents. Revenge for herself, also. “Your hatred twisted me into this nightmare come to life. Behold, Keeper; I have sold my soul to the Dread Wolf on your account. And I would do it all over again to watch you suffer.”

Ellana separated his head from the rest of his body in one great swing of the sword the Wolf gave her. After the foul deed was done, the steel fell from her grip, impaling itself within the blood-soaked ground below.

She toppled to her knees before the Wolf, so tired and ready to accept her fate. “I am ready,” Ellana told him, heart a war drum in her chest. Peace settled over her as she clasped her hands before her. Everything ended, after all.

But the Wolf did not strike her down. Instead, he reared back and shed his fur, shaking it back into a mighty robe around his Elvhen form. It was an honour, Ellana thought distantly as he stepped over to her. A true honour to behold the Wolf in his true form. He was beautiful, yet so terrible, power radiating from him in waves. A glorious nightmare come to life. The eyes fixed upon her were not kind, but clouded and curious. “You come to me willingly?” he asked, placing two fingers beneath the woman’s chin and tilting her head back to face him.

“I do. I am a murderer, and I do not regret my actions.”

“You are not what I expected,” he mused, brushing a thumb across her trembling lips. “Only the immensely strong or the very foolish look the Dread Wolf in the eye and go to him willingly. Which are you?”

Fen’Harel had blue-grey eyes, Ellana noted through her fading vision. How peculiar. She had been expecting ruby red at least. It made him seem… normal. Not an infallible God, but a man. A person like her who was prone to making mistakes. “Which do you think I am?”

“Something I have never seen before. I know you, I feel. In another world.” He slowly sank down to his knees before her, peering at the mortal woman with a slightly furrowed brow. As if he was peering through frosted glass.

“Another world?” Was such a thing possible?

The Dread Wolf smiled at her, and it damn near broke Ellana’s heart for some reason she could not understand; she grasped the front of his fur coat, needing to touch him, prove to herself that he was real. “You have a rare and marvelous spirit. I find it hard to believe that any incarnation of myself could deny you.” He leaned closer until his lips were pressed to the woman’s forehead. “Maybe next time, we shall have peace. Maybe next time, I will not be seen as a monster, and you will live a long and glorious life.”

Ellana didn’t understand Fen’Harel’s words. Didn’t try to. But peace sounded good and she allowed her weary spirit to go with him willingly. To whatever end. 

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween! This (yikes, dark) little idea came to me last night. I've no idea if it should become something more or be left as a standalone...? The ending has been left open to interpretation: Did she die or did he save her? *makes ghosty noises* who knows.


End file.
